Release and brake for fire resisting curtains



Jan. 19, 1932. A RUSH 1,842,123

RELEASE AND BRAKE FOR FIRE RESISTING CURTAINS Filed Feb. 25, 1929 2Sheets-Sheet l Snv'entor ALBERT RUSH S Q M wf A GttornegA.

Jan. 19, 1932. A. RUSH 1,842,123

RELEASE AND BRAKE FOR FIRE RESISTING CURTAINS Filed Feb. 25, 1929 2Sheets-Sheet 2 Fig.5.

Isnoentor ALBERT RUS H fi m/4 WM 4 Gttorneg Patented Jan. 19, 1932 tUNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ALBERT RUSH, 0E COLUMBUS, onro, 'ASSIGNOBr0, THE KINNEAR MANUFACT RING COMPANY, OF COLUMBUS, OHIO, A conrormrronor onro RELEASE AND BRAKE Eon FIRE ansrsrrivsfounrnrns Application filedFebruary 25, 1929. Serial No. 342,629. I

This invention relates more especially to fire resisting curtains suchas used in doors and the like that are provided with a counter balancingspring or springs adapted to facilitate the raising and lowering ofthecurtain in normal circumstances and adapted to be zftiutomati'callyreleased for closing in case of re. I V

In such doors the counterbalanci-ng means or portionthereof is releasedin case of fire bythermally controlled devices and a brake automaticallyapplied to retard the descent of the door for the purpose of preventingpossible damage thereto. 1

The chief ob'ect of the present invention is to provide means restrainedby the ther mally controlled devices for holding the counterbalancingspringor-portion thereof in wound up or functioning condition for normal operation of the curta'inand the braking member'in non-functioningposition, but so that upon the occurrence of fire and the consequentrelease of the thermally controlled devices the counterbalancing memberis liberated to permit the closing of thecurtain and braking memberscontemporaneously released to prevent violent descent of the door. Anadvantage, among others of such construction is that the braking membersare held in disengaged position during normal working of the doorthereby avoiding noise and im pedance of operation of the curtain thatwould be occasioned by the idling of such braking members. Other objectsand advantages of the invention will be apparent from the disclosure.

The invention is embodied in the example herein shown and described, thefeatures of novelty being pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings- Figure 1 is a front view with parts insection of a fire resisting door winding roller equipped with myinvention.

Fig. 2 is a front view on a larger scale of the right hand end of Fig.1.

Fig. 3 is an elevation on a similar scale looking at the right hand endof Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a side view on a larger scale of a portion of the brakedevice.

Fig. 5 is a plan view of the lower end of Fig. 4. y

In the views 5 designates the curtain winding barrel shown as having afraction 6 of the curtain attached'thereto. In the left hand end of thebarrel is a coil spring 7' connected at one end to the winding shaftorbarrel and at its other end to a solid shaft. 8 supported in the lefthand end bracket 9, said shaft adaptedto be turned by a wheellO to placethe spring under the desiredtension to'partially counterbalancethecurta-in and fixed in such position by a removable pin ll on thebracket and entered in a hole 10 in a projection on the wheel.

In the right hand end of the barrel is a coil spring 12 connected at oneend to the barrel and at itsotherend to a solid shaft 13 sup ported in aplug 30 and plug extension 30 secured in the barrel, the plugextension'being supported in the right hand end bracket 14;, said shaftadapted to be turned by a wheel 15 affixed to the outer end of the shaftto permit the spring 13 to be placed under the neces sary tension tosupplement that of'the spring 7 to completely counterbalance thecurtain. By this means the curtain can be raised or lowered withcomparative ease and will remain at its completely raised or loweredposition or at any intermediate position in which. it may be left. Thepower of the spring 12 issuch that if released, the curtain will automatically close by gravity.

The wheel 15 is madeat its rim with a number of teeth or projections 15;and the spring 12ylS held iniits aforesaid tensioned state by means of atooth 16 carried by a lever 17 pivoted 'on a pin 17 on the right handend bracket. Said tooth 16 engagesv one of the teeth 15v and preventsthe release of the spring until liberated'by. the occurrence of fire.The lever 17 is held up in the position referred to by means of an arm18 pivoted at 19 on a bracket 20 bolted to the end bracket, said armbeing retained in this position by means of a wire 18 attached to afixed point and containing fusible link 18 so that upon the fusing ofsaid link the arm 18 and lever drop by gravity and release the wheel 15and therefore the spring 12. As a consequence o'fthis liberation of thespring 12 the curtain, being insufficiently restrained by the saidspring 12, unrolls by gravity to closing position.

On the end of the plug extension and secured by a key 21 is a toothedwheel 21 constituting an element of the braking means. The other elementof the braking means consists of a pair of generally semi-circular arms22 that are jointly pivoted on a pin 23 at the top of the outer face ofthe end bracket. Each of these arms is provided with a tooth 22 adaptedto be projected into the path of the teeth of the wheel 21. The lowerends of the arms are complementarily tongued into each other to keepthem in the same plane; and adjacent said tongues at their lower endsare provided oppositely beveled portions 22. The arms 22 are alsoconnected at their lower ends by a coil spring 24 tending to draw themtoward each other but only to such an extent that the pair act as anescapement device in cooperation with the toothed wheel.

Carried by the lever 17 is a wedge 25 adapted, when the lever is raisedto place the toot-h 16 in position to hold the wheel 15, to operate onthe beveled portions 22 to separate said arms 22 and remove their teethfrom the path of the teeth of the wheel 21. When, therefore, the barrelis rotated in normal use the teeth of the wheel 21 do not strike theteeth of arms 22 thereby avoiding noise and impedance of the rotation ofthe barrel.

In practice when the lever 17 is dropped by the melting of the fusiblelink the tooth 16 and wedge 25 are contemporaneously removed from theirfunctioning positions thereby liberating the spring 12 and permittingthe arms 22 to be drawn toward each other by spring 24 into position toact as an escapement interrupting the rotation of the wheel 21,retarding the closing of the curtain and preventing its injury byviolent descent. In this operation it will be understood that the twoarms 22 form a ring that oscillates on the pin 23 in functioning as anescapement.

The forms of the parts can be changed without departing from the gist ofthe invention as claimed.

What I claim is:

1. In a fire-resisting curtain having a winding barrel, acounterbalancing tension member therefor, means for placing said tensionmember under tension, a brake device for the winding shaft including aspur wheel connected with the barrel, an escapement member composed ofseparable spurred parts to cooperate with said spur wheel, and thermallycontrolled means for holding the counterbalancing tension member and theseparable parts of said escapement member out of functioning positionand releasing the same for operation upon the occurrence of fire.

2. In a fire-resisting curtain having a winding shaft, a tension memberthereon,

means for placing said tension member under tension, a brake device forthe winding shaft including a spur wheel connected with the windingshaft, and an escapement member composed of separable parts pivoted tocooperate with said spur wheel, spring means tending to draw saidescapement parts toward the spur wheel, and thermally controlled meansfor holding said escapement member out of functioning position andreleasing the same for operation upon the occurrence of fire.

3. In a fire-resisting curtain having a winding shaft, a tension memberthereon, means for placing said tension member under tension, a brakedevice for the winding shaft including a spur wheel connected with thewinding shaft, and an escapement member composed of separable partspivoted to cooperate with said spur wheel, spring means tending to drawsaid escapement parts toward the spur wheel and a thermally controlledlever having a tooth to engage said spur wheel and also provided with awedge for holding the parts of said pivoted escapement member out offunctioning position, and releasing the same for operation upon theoccurrence of fire.

4. In a normally operative and thermally releasable fire resistingcurtain, a curtain winding drum,a releasable counterbalancing tensionmember for the curtain, a brake means for the winding member including aspur wheel carried by the drum, a pair of separable escapement armssupported on a fixed point to cooperate with said spur wheel, meanstending to draw said escapement arms toward said spur wheel, thermallycontrolled means for normally holding said counterbalancing tensionmember under counterbalancing tension also for holding the arm out ofbraking relation with the spur wheel, said thermally controlled meansadapted to release said counterbalancing tension member and said brakingarms for cooperation with the spur wheel upon a rise of temperaturecaused by fire.

ALBERT RUSH.

